An Olympic medalist and former U.S. Rowing Coach of the Year,
John Pescatore has set Yale on a new course since being named head
coach on August 28, 2002. The heavyweights have moved back into the
upper echelon of Ivy League rowing and regained prominence on the
national stage. The overall performance of the program has improved
every year in Pescatore's tenure, culminating in 2006-07, as the
heavyweights completed an undefeated dual racing season, combined
with a silver medal at the Eastern Sprints Championship, a bronze
medal at the Head of the Charles in the Championship Eight (the US
National team finished first) and a gold medal at the Princeton
Chase Regatta. And to cap off the year, the Yale heavyweights
defeated Harvard in their annual 4-mile
contest in what newspapers have called "the greatest comeback in
the history of the regatta." Four oarsmen from the 2007 Yale crews,
all recruited by Pescatore, were invited to compete for seats on
the US National Team for the Under-23 World Championships.

In the year prior to coming to Yale, Pescatore was an assistant
coach at the University of Pennsylvania and Head Coach of the Elite
Program at Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia, preparing athletes for
International and Olympic rowing teams. In 2000, Pescatore served
as assistant coach for the United States Olympic Team and coached
the men's coxless pair to a Silver medal at Olympic Games in
Sydney, Australia. The men's pair was the top performing American
crew in Sydney, and for his efforts, Pescatore was named the 2000
U.S. Rowing Coach of the Year.

In the seven years before coaching at the Olympics, Pescatore
was Head Coach at St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San
Francisco. Pescatore's crews earned medals in the varsity eight for
seven consecutive years at the Southwest Regional Championships,
winning three times, and also winning the National Championship in
1997. Prior to coming to St. Ignatius he was the men's freshmen
coach at Stanford University from 1988 to 1991.

As an oarsman, Pescatore won a Bronze Medal in the 1988 Olympic
Games in Seoul, Korea, as stroke for the American heavyweight
eight. He was also the stroke for the heavyweight pair without
coxswain which placed sixth in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona,
Spain. In addition, Pescatore stroked the heavyweight eight which
captured the Gold Medal at the 1987 World Championships in
Copenhagen, Denmark, setting a new world record in the process. In
1986, as Captain at the University of Pennsylvania, Pescatore
stroked the Varsity Eight to the Eastern Sprints Championship,
snapping a 31-year drought at the Sprints and putting Penn back on
the map of Ivy League and national rowing. That same year,
Pescatore's crew earned gold at the San Diego Crew Classic and set
a new course record which still stands today, 21 years later.
Pescatore began his rowing career at Holy Spirit High School in
southern New Jersey, rowing 6-seat in the undefeated varsity eight
his senior year, winning both the prestigious Stotesbury Cup and
National Championship regattas.